2 Corinthians 13: 11: Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort,
be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
12: Greet one another with an
holy kiss. 13: All the saints
salute you. 14: The grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be
with you all. Amen. « The second epistle to the Corinthians was
written from Philippi, a city of Macedonia, by Titus and Lucas. »

2 Corinthians 13: 11: Finally, brethren, farewell.

“Farewell”
means rejoice, be well. In Christ, every
believer has much in which to rejoice.We rejoice in his person, in whom we are accepted; in his righteousness,
by which we are justified; in his blood, by which we are washed; and in his
fullness, from which we have received grace for grace.

2 Corinthians 13: 11:…Be perfect,…

Be restored and be mature. Put away all division. Count your brethren better than
yourself and be united with one another in Christ.Instead of seeking to know more
division, seek to grow in Christ: in knowledge of him, in his grace, in love
toward him and brethren and in good works.

2 Corinthians 13: 11…be of good comfort, be
of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

This is
the sum of all that went before. Wherever God’s people are comforted in the
gospel, of one mind, and living in peace the God of love and peace is with
them.God is the reason for the unity.So Paul says, “be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of
love and peace shall be with you.” God
shall be with you to strengthen you in doing what we ought, to guide you in
difficulty, to support you in trial, to comfort you in loneliness, to carry you
in death and in judgment to be your Father and Savior

2
Corinthians 13: 12: Greet one another with an holy kiss.

This,
too, sums up all that he just said.The
kiss is not the important part of this verse.He could have said a handshake, a hug, or some other form of greeting.The key word is “holy.”The point is make certain all the above is in
your heart by God so that you love one another sincerely from a holy heart.If they continued to greet each other with a
kiss with all the division and malice in their hearts it would be the kiss of
Judas, not a kiss from a holy, sanctified heart.

2
Corinthians 13: 13: All the saints salute you.

It is
important when a church is divided and going through troubles—or when an
individual brother is—it is important to let them know the church does not
regard them any differently in Christ.All
the saints salute all you saints.We are
sinners and are apt to stumble though we be in Christ. So we do not count
someone a cast away just because they fall into problems.

2 Corinthians 13: 14: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and
the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

This is
our text.Here we are taught that our
salvation is by our triune God.

THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

It was
the grace of Christ that made him suffer so greatly for his people.

2 Corinthians 8:9: For ye know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that
ye through his poverty might be rich.

By his
grace, he became Surety for his people in the everlasting covenant before the
world was made. Christ promised to pay everything his people owed knowing we
would not be able to pay due to our fall in Adam.Christ promised to bear all the wrath of
divine justice for his people. Oh, what grace!

It was his
grace that caused him to assume our nature in his incarnation. Imagine the
stoop from eternal glory to human nature. Oh, what grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ!

Grace
caused him to live in obedience to God as our Representative: to present
himself spotless then to have all the iniquity of his people laid on him. For
him to be found guilty by the kangaroo court of men was nothing. But to be
found guilty by the court of God, to be made a curse and bear the condemnation
that his people owed, that was great grace toward his people!

It was
grace that made him bring in everlasting righteousness for his people and call
us and clothe us in his righteous robe.And it is his grace that makes him continue to intercede at God’s right
hand for us.

It is the
grace of Christ that makes him rule all things in heaven and earth to send us
forth with this gospel and successfully bring the gospel of Christ to every one
of his blood bought children. Oh, what grace to call all his people and save us
with his gospel!

Brethren,
we do not always feel his grace, do we? Thankfully, his grace does not depend
upon our feelings. But when men speak of salvation by our will and our works—by
our seeking and finding—this is why we say NOT SO! We say with the Apostle
Peter, Acts 15:11: But we believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

THE LOVE OF GOD

“The
love of God” our Father is eternal. It has no beginning and no end.

Jeremiah 31:3: The LORD hath appeared of old unto me,
saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with
lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

God’s
love is free, underserved, and sovereign. We do not merit God’s love. God
sovereignly chooses and loves whom he will.

God’s
love is effectual. Those he loves he saves.There will be no one in hell ever that God loved.God saves those he loves.If not why speak of God’s love?

God’s
love is manifested—“In this was
manifested the love of God toward us, God sent his only begotten Son into the
world that we might live through him.” (1 John 4: 9)

God’s
love is commended to us—“God commendeth his
love toward us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:
8)

God’s
love makes us love him—“We love him
because he first loved us.” (1 John 4: 19)

Lamentations 3:22: It is of the LORD’S mercies that we
are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

Malachi 3:6: For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

So God’s
love is distinguishing love which is inseparable.God loves his elect in Christ. God’s love is
only in Christ, only for his elect, for no one else. His love chose us, his
love gave his Son for us, his love called us, his love keeps us and his love
will bring us home conformed to Christ. Therefore, nothing shall separate us
from God’s love in Christ.

Romans 8: 38:
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39: Nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord.

“Could we with ink the oceans fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
Would drain the oceans dry!
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.”

THE COMMUNION OF THE HOLY GHOST

God the
Holy Spirit is the Holy Ghost.He gives
us a new heart in regeneration.Then he takes the things of God, things
of Christ, and shows them to us.Through his gifts of love and faith and
repentance, he gives us communion with our Father in our blessed Savior, causing
us to enjoy sweet communion with one another.

All God’s
people everywhere, at all points in time, are born of the same Holy Spirit and
brought into the same communion through the same gospel of Christ.The Holy Spirit makes his preacher preach one
message: Christ and him crucified. This is how we recognize an imposter—by the
Holy Spirit.The Holy Spirit makes his
people believe on one Christ with one faith.

Ephesians 2:18: For through [Christ] we both have access
by one Spirit unto the Father.

Ephesians 1: 1:…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you
are called 2: With all lowliness
and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3: Endeavouring to keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4:
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of
your calling; 5: One Lord, one
faith, one baptism, 6: One God
and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Brethren,
this is why it is so shameful for a body of believers to have those in it that become
divided like they were at Corinth.God’s
people are not divided.It is always two
or three who split off and create division. They attempt to draw away disciples
after themselves. They cause trouble in the church.But heresies are needful to manifest them
that are approved by God.

1 Corinthians 11:19: For there must be also heresies
among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

Sadly, some
become deceived by satan’s angels of light and are drawn away. But they only
prove they are not approved by God. That is what happened at Corinth.But the Sovereign Holy Spirit brings his
people together even closer in communion in Christ.

So be
sure to get this, you who believe on Christ. Our prayer is that the Holy Spirit
abide upon us and grant us grace to walk and work together in sweet communion
with our great, eternal, triune God in Christ and with one another all the days
of our lives. Let nothing deprive us of the boundless blessedness of this
benediction. Endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace.The Lord has given us something
very special in this church by giving us the unity and love he has given. Guard
it!As blessed as we have been and are
in the united mercies of our triune God, let this blessedness evermore be ours.
Let it constantly be increasing in our experience of grace. This is our prayer
to God, “Lord make us mature and keep us
united in love, for the sake of Christ.”